The Promise of Rebellion
by LOTR Sparkling Pippin
Summary: Gillette is convinced that the pirates will soon band together, forming a navy twice the size of Britain's. So it is decided to end the pirate threat once and for all, striking at it's heart; Tortuga. Backdrop to this is a Jack romance.
1. Bunch of Gents

Like the black sails of a pirate ship, night overtook Tortuga. The howls of men in pain from fights and of men in the midst of pleasure could be heard even all the way down by the docks. A not so young lass sat on the rather rotted planks, swinging bare legs back in forth in the chilly waters of the Caribbean.  
  
Her mother, Victoria, was off with some old lover at the moment. Josaline had only just finished making love to a rather drunk and scruffy man who she assumed to be a pirate. He'd paid her decently, at any rate. The sloshes of water from the movement of her legs mixed nicely with the clink of coins in her palm. In all probability, they'd be used in buying rum with later.  
  
The night air was warm and moist, and it did nothing to cool her body after having sex. Without a petticoat or corset to delay her, Josaline wriggled free of her cotton slip and dived into the water. She emerged seconds later, gasping for breath.  
  
"Agh, it's cold..." Josaline whispered to no one in particular, her voice as harsh as the place she grew up in. It took a couple minutes of just standing in the water to adjust. Then, with knees bent and hands pressed together over her head, she dove back in.  
  
Shafts of moonlight were warped and twisted by the water, appearing in strange patterns on the sand for the midnight swimmer to admire. Long strands of dark hair floated about her head like a halo while she blinked through the water to gaze at the moon's artwork. Enchanted, she reached out her hand to try and touch the shimmering lights, but a shadow passed overhead.  
  
Her head broke through the water's surface, and right away her eyes were filled with the sight of tattered black sails that somehow seemed quite ominous. All of a sudden she realized how vulnerable she was like that, naked and unarmed. Josaline kicked herself up and out of the water, onto the deck.  
  
In a succession of quick movements, she managed to get back into her slip within seconds. It was lucky for her that she could dress in such a rushed fashion because it was only soon after that the somewhat battered ship docked. Her hands found a place on her hips to rest while she watched the crew clamber onto the dock.  
  
"Bit late to be dockin, ain't it?" Josaline demanded.  
  
"Bit late to be takin' a midnight swim, too," a man said as he walked, or more accurately, wobbled by. Her face flushed a light pink and she stalked after him, following his rugged looking crew. The man looked as if he had stayed out in the sun a bit too long. His skin was so dark that in the night it seemed black as his hair. A smirk tugged at the girl's lips as he staggered around, drunk in her eyes.  
  
"Like what you saw, then?" she asked. He walked on, either deaf to her words or ignoring them. She started after him again and soon fell in step with the man, ready to ask him the question when she noticed a rather premature wince and canter of the head; it seemed to her that he seemed ready to be smacked.  
  
"Oy, I said, did you like what you saw?" Josaline asked yet again. This time her only response were a few raunchy laughs from the crew behind him.  
  
"Wind in the sails, wind in the sails!" A parrot cried in response.  
  
"And what the blazes does that mean?" She cried.  
  
"Means yes," someone from the group offered. By that time, she had stopped walking so fast and was in pace with the crew.  
  
"Come on, you expect me to believe that a buncha hardworkin' men like yourselves don't want a lady for a while?" Asked Josaline.  
  
"You ain't no lady, lassie," answered a rather soft, feminine voice.  
  
"Yeah? And you ain't a bunch of gents yourselves."  
  
"No kidding," said the soft voice.  
  
"Well, just listen. I could do with a few more coins and I'm sure you all could all do with a bit of lovin' after a long journey on the sea, so..." she was going to let it sink in, but the soft voice snapped at her first.  
  
"Listen missy, we're here on business. And furthermore, I am not a man of any sorts and I will personally make sure our crew stays focused."  
  
With that, the motley crew made their way into Tortuga and Josaline was left on the docks. It was rare in this place that any man would pass up her offer, but it did happen. She stretched herself luxuriously out on the planks, lowering her arms towards the water so her finger tips just touched. It seemed to her that she stayed in that position forever, but it was only minutes. And in that short time the waves and shouts lulled her to sleep.  
  
"Careful, love, someone might step on you," a gruff voice announced, startling Josaline awake. The twinkling of the stars said it was still rather late.  
  
"I wasn't sleepin'," she replied, stifling a yawn.  
  
"Who said ye were?"  
  
She shrugged and sat up; the eyes of the stranger greeted her warmly, though they seemed wary of sudden attacks. As a breeze filtered through tangled locks she was painfully aware that the straps of her already skimpy slip had fallen down her arms, revealing quite a bit of her upper body.  
  
"Second look you've gotten tonight..." The girl muttered, yanking them back into place.  
  
"It's a nice view, love. Now that my business is taken care of I'd be willin' to listenin' to your proposal again." Rum slurred his words only slightly, yet perfumed his breath a good deal. But in light of this change, Josaline found herself pressed against him, the top of her head just barely reaching his nose.  
  
"I bet ye would, mister..."  
  
"Sparrow. Captain Jack Sparrow, if you will."  
  
"Well, Captain Jack Sparrow, I would be Josaline. And as for that proposal...a few coins for a few hours."  
  
"Howabout five bottles o' rum and we have a go til the sun comes up?"  
  
Josaline purred in agreement, leading him ever so slowly to her mothers room along the harbor where they spent the rest of the night in the throes of passion.  
  
.*.*.*.  
  
Author's Note: Next chapter will be on the capture of Tortuga, or at least the preparation for it. As of yet, I am unsure as to whether or not Jack and Josaline will or will not have an everlasting relationship or not. So if you want to add your opinion to that matter in the review (::nudge, nudge, wink, wink::), I would like that VERY much. Reviews are adored! 


	2. You Sound Like A Pirate

"Sir, I would like for you to look at these numbers," Gillette said, walking over to Norrington. After the whole pirate fiasco he had become concerned with his leader, wondering if he was capable. Besides that, he also had become only slightly obsessed with pirates. A good deal of time was spent each night researching them, writing notes about them, and plotting against them.  
  
"Commodore, I really think you should take a look at this," He insisted. Norrington, however, simply waved them away.  
  
"Gillette, I'm very busy!"  
  
"But commodore!"  
  
"Later, Gillette!"  
  
"This is important!"  
  
With a resigned sigh, Norrington snatched the parchment from his lieutenant. His lips were stretched tight as he read, but the further along he got, the more they relaxed. Once he was done with the brief scribbles of writing, his mouth was hanging open.  
  
"How come I was not informed of this sooner?" Norrington demanded, standing at last.  
  
"Well, I only just discovered it." Gillette replied. His leader's eyes closed for a moment and his hand found a place upon his desk to rest on.  
  
"This will have to be dealt with immediately," He said through closed eyes.  
  
"Of course, commodore. Shall I assemble the men?"  
  
"Yes, yes, get them prepared. I'm not sure what good it will do, though. Let me think."  
  
Gillette scurried away at top pace, spurred by eagerness and horror from his discovery. Norrington sank into his chair, all ready deep in thought. There were no real pirate ships left to roam in the waters of the Caribbean, he had thought. He had thought that he had beaten them down, that he had triumphed. But Gillette's numbers said otherwise. And had his lieutenant ever been wrong before?  
  
Well, there was that mishap involving the cursed pirates; however, who could have possibly believed that Elizabeth had been telling the truth? No one, that's who. Norrington knew the fault lay with him at any rate, though he was not eager to admit it.  
  
His eyes once again strayed to the parchment and he began ticking off different numbers with his fingers. So, there it was. All the ships of the navy residing in the Caribbean put together did not even equal half of the ships the pirates had. Combining every man who worked for the navy in the Caribbean, even ones who couldn't fight, only equaled to a quarter of the pirates residing in Tortuga.  
  
Tortuga. For a long time that name had haunted him, but he had never dreamed that so many could ever have lived there. The seas were certainly under the navy's control, but for how long? There was the promise of rebellion, sooner or later the pirates would give up their grudges and fight together. If and when they did, their vast numbers and skill would certainly be no match for the queen's navy.  
  
So, Norrington made up his mind. They would have to strike hard and fast, aiming for the heart of the problem, Tortuga. Snatching his hat and coat up with skilled fingers, he put them on and hurried out to the docks.  
  
"Commodore! The crews are nearly ready!" Gillette called, waving to him from the deck of one of their few ships. All the men were supposed to be ready to go at the drop of a hat, but it was typical for them to take an hour getting ready. 'Nearly ready' really meant that the crews were running 'round, trying to grab a few last minute things.  
  
"Sir? Have you come up with any plans?" Questioned Gillette as he approached Norrington.  
  
"Not yet. No need to be rash," Norrington lied, never loosing his stride as he approached his ship. They spent a few minutes in heavy silence as Norrington developed more of his plan in his thoughts.  
  
"Sir?" Gillette said softly, not wanting to disrupt the commodore's thinking. "Sir, the men are boarding."  
  
Commodore Norrington looked up to see that, indeed, the men were boarding. It seemed to be happening much too quickly. It was far too rash. Sudden. Not like him at all, oh no. But this looming threat was just too hard to ignore and he knew damn well they would have to work quickly.  
  
"Men!" Norrington began, "For a long time we have tried to protect Port Royal from the threat of pirates. And for a long time we thought we were doing an excellent job," at this there were many cheers from the crew, "However. However, there is a bigger threat here than we ever realized. The pirate's numbers are four times ours, and our fleet is only half the size of theirs.  
  
"In Tortuga where we seldom go, these pirates and their ships can be found. We long ignored Tortuga because we wanted no affiliation with such a place; but now we have no choice, we have to strike hard and we have to strike fast. All that we have yet planned is to sail there with only the ships from Port Royal. We will have residents here send for help from the other islands, and yes, even England.  
  
"Later on this voyage you will be informed of what the plan is once we reach Tortuga. But for now, we sail," Norrington finished off his speech and headed towards the stern where Gillette was standing.  
  
"Gillette, give the orders while I'm below deck," Norrington whispered, waving to his men as he went down the rickety steps. Once he found a relatively stable table to work at, he laid out his papers and was soon absorbed in them.  
  
Above the commodore, men scurried about as they got the ship prepared. One rather excited man, Joseph Fletcher, nearly fell off the side while setting up the sails with a more competent sailor than himself. He would fall into the category of 'ones who couldn't fight', and two of each had been placed upon each ship so they would not be as large a problem.  
  
A couple of the men raced down the steps, not to bother their leader, just to have the cannons ready. One was carrying something that looked a bit like a feather duster which he stuck down the hole of each cannon, cleaning it of any gunk left from the last battle. A large man often called Dwarf cradled the cannon balls next to his chest, loading one in whenever his mates gave the signal. The rest were scattered about the guns putting in powder and checking for random oddities.  
  
On deck it was apparent that everything was, more or less, ready to go. Gillette stood on a slightly elevated portion of the ship yelling last minute orders. Once the anchor was lifted from the water, Gillette waved the okay to the man standing at the wheel. A gust of wind was suddenly caught in the sails, propelling them forward and out of the harbor. It seemed a perfect start to their voyage.  
  
Below deck Norrington was cursing loudly, for all his papers had slid off the table once the ship began to move. He was quick to gather them up, but not exactly quick in recovering from his anger. The usually pallid cheeks of the commodore were flushed an angry scarlet, and his hat was on the verge of falling from his head.  
  
"We're moving, Norrington!" Gillette announced as he stampeded down the stairs. His captain glared at him briefly.  
  
"Warn me next time, won't you?" Norrington asked through gritted teeth. His lieutenant bobbed his head, looking abashed.  
  
"At any rate, I believe I have devised a plan."  
  
"So soon?"  
  
"Yes, care to take a look?"  
  
"Of course, sir!"  
  
For the second time that day an uncomfortable silence fell about them as Gillette stared at the papers on the table. His eyes were as round as doubloons when he finished looking over all of it.  
  
"The women and children, sir?" Gillette asked, his normally cheerful voice drained and pinched.  
  
"Everyone, yes. I am regretful it has to be done like this, but everyone in that godforsaken place knows how to shoot a gun. We just can't afford to take chances. And in my experience, taking captives is the easiest way to get what you want. If we take a good number of the women and children, hold them on these ships, then we can lure the pirates out to here.  
  
"Once they arrive on the decks of any of our ships, we shoot. It's not nice and it's not clean, but it is effective. It will be very effective. It would be better than just traipsing about that place, waiting to see if someone is a pirate or not and then shooting them. What we're doing is for the good cause, so who cares, who really cares if we go about it with morals or not?  
  
"All of the Caribbean will lay in ruin if we don't do this soon. When all the rum runs out, those pirates will finally realize they outnumber us and band together. It's too risky not to do this at the moment, Gillette."  
  
"Commodore, you sound," Gillette paused, his voice dropping, "You sound like a pirate, sir."  
  
"Yes. Yes, I do," agreed Norrington slowly. Perhaps Captain Sparrow had had more of an effect upon him than he thought.  
  
.*.*.*.*  
  
Author's Note: Well, there it is. Both the plots have been started, now it's just up to me to finish 'em, and for anyone who had read this to review so I know what or what not to do!  
  
Truffles: Ja, I am aware Gillette is a brand of razor. But Gillette is Norrington's lieutenant. In the movie, he's the one who says 'Oh don't worry miss, a little mermaid flopped up on the deck and told him the whole story.' Sorry for any confusion. It wasn't me who told the writers to have a man named after a razor! 


End file.
